U.S. women open with Sweden

The U.S. women's national team will open its defense of the Women's World Cup title against Sweden on Sept. 21 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

The draw for the 2003 Women's World Cup, moved to the United States from China in the spring because of the SARS epidemic, was held Thursday morning with the 16-team field sorted into four groups.

The U.S. team's Group A also includes Nigeria, whom they will play Sept. 25 in Philadelphia, and North Korea. The United States, ranked No. 1 in the world in FIFA's new women's rankings, will play North Korea on Sept. 28 in Columbus, Ohio. Both of those teams were in the U.S. group in the 1999 Women's World Cup as well, with the Americans winning each match.

"There's a lot of evidence that this is a strong, difficult group, probably the toughest of the four," U.S. coach April Heinrichs said.

Sweden will be no walkover in the opener. The Swedes are ranked No. 5 by FIFA and are the highest-ranked unseeded team in the field. The U.S. team has a 10-2-5 record against Sweden, outscoring them 30-14. But in their last meeting in the Algarve Cup in March, the teams played to a 1-1 draw.

"They are very good. I don't regard them as any less talented than Norway or Germany," U.S. star Brandi Chastain said. "Coming out of Europe, they are extremely prepared to play tough matches. They will be ready to give us a great game."

Nigeria lost 7-1 to the U.S. in the '99 World Cup and is ranked No. 23 in the world. North Korea, ranked No. 7, has played the U.S. team only once, a 3- 0 loss in '99 in which the U.S. team was held scoreless in the first half. But North Korea has defeated China, the No. 4 ranked team, twice already this year.

North Korea has scored 60 goals in qualifying and allowed only three.

"I was sitting next to the Chinese coach at the draw and he leaned over and told me that they are a strong, physical team," Heinrichs said. "The fact that they beat China twice is the equivalent of Canada or another CONCACAF team beating us twice."

The top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals. If the U.S. team advances, as is expected, the pool of potential opponents includes Norway,

Brazil, France and South Korea.

The Americans were separated from some of their noteworthy competitors, as China, Germany and Canada are on the other side of a potential semifinal bracket. China, the 1999 runner-up, opens against Ghana Sept. 21 at the Home Depot Center in Carson (Los Angeles County).

A possible quarterfinal match against either Norway or Brazil would pit the United States against one of the top six teams in the world before reaching the semifinals.

"There's great parity in the women's game now and parity is what is enabling this World Cup to be the most competitive we've ever seen," Heinrichs said.